Oral Answers to Questions

Adam Afriyie Excerpts

Tuesday 30th April 2019 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stephenson]

Most major supermarkets are signatories to that pact, and we have certainly seen some go further than others. A lot of lessons can be learned. It is a mixed picture at the moment, so I am certainly keen to keep this area under review. I particularly praise Morrisons, which has come out with a range of things on this, but there are many other supermarkets available that are working hard on this topic. We all have to work together on this—consumers, business and the Government.

[Adam Afriyie (Windsor) (Con)]

6. What recent progress he has made on meeting the Government’s ambition to make the UK the best place to start and grow a business.

[Andrew Stephenson]

To encourage the next generation of innovative entrepreneurs, our modern industrial strategy announced the biggest increase in public research and development funding on record—an extra £7 billion by 2021-22. We have also launched an independent review of the barriers facing young entrepreneurs, and we have published a review of the barriers facing female entrepreneurs.

[Adam Afriyie]

I very much welcome that answer, and I very much welcome the Minister on his debut appearance at the Dispatch Box. I would also very much like to welcome him to Windsor, where residents of the royal borough have the lowest council tax in the country and residents of Bracknell Forest have low council tax but also high-quality services. That is why so many talented people come to Windsor to live and work. Will the Minister join me in recognising the good work of the Thames Valley Berkshire local enterprise partnership and the two key local authorities in making the Windsor constituency a great place to live, work and, above all, to start and run a business?

[Andrew Stephenson]

I agree with my hon. Friend and welcome his support for the good work of the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP and his local councils. My officials will work with his LEP and its local authority partners to produce a local industrial strategy for Berkshire that will boost productivity and support business start-ups. That is in addition to the £142 million local growth fund investment that we have already made in the county.

Draft Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste and spent fuel (EU Exit) Regulations 2018

Adam Afriyie Excerpts

Tuesday 22nd January 2019 General Committees

[Adam Afriyie (Windsor) (Con)]

I rise very briefly to observe that Lakeside Energy from Waste in my constituency disposes of quite a lot of radioactive material. It seems to me important that, as a commercial business, it is able to accept goods from overseas rather than just from the NHS. I wonder whether the transportation of radioactive materials that result from hospital and laboratory activities is covered by the draft regulations, or whether that is outwith their scope.

Draft Takeovers (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019

Adam Afriyie Excerpts

Tuesday 11th December 2018 General Committees

[Adam Afriyie (Windsor) (Con)]

I do not intend to detain the Committee for long. I welcome the statutory instrument, and commend the Government and the Minister for presenting it very well. It is one of the instruments that is beginning to deal with a no-deal scenario, as well as a deal-based scenario. Although many of us wish the Prime Minister well in negotiating the withdrawal agreement and subsequent free trade agreement, it would be the responsibility of any Government to prepare for the eventuality of no deal. The statutory instrument performs both functions, ensuring that our company takeover regime works in both scenarios.

I have a couple of questions. One is that there is a possibility—and I hope it does not arise because of the Brexit vote—that we may remain in the European Union. Would this statutory instrument then need to be reversed if that were the situation? The second question is slightly more technical, and I do not want to push the Minister too hard on this. I am interested in companies with dual listings, both in the EEA or the European Union and in the UK. How does this statutory instrument deal with that situation? I appreciate that she may need some inspiration to answer that question.

The explanatory memorandum says that the regulations transpose the 2004 directive, through the 2006 Act, into our legislation. However, it also says that these regulations will

“fix deficiencies in the Act arising from EU exit and thus preserve, so far as possible, the current takeover regime.”

I was wondering why it says “so far as possible”. Is it because, despite the great drafting of this statutory instrument, there may well be areas that are not fully covered and that may need to be addressed again in future?

Overall, I will be supporting this statutory instrument. It is absolutely vital that not only this one but probably another 20,000 more come through these Committees and that our job, as Members of Parliament, is very much enhanced when we leave the EU, because we will be doing what we were elected to do in the first place, which is effecting UK law.

Oral Answers to Questions

Adam Afriyie Excerpts

Tuesday 17th July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Richard Harrington]

The UK Government really do not need to take very many lessons from Scotland on how to help businesses with business rates and every other form of business support. Actually, the working relationship between the two Governments is pretty good and we aim to provide a good business environment for all businesses on both sides of the border.

[Adam Afriyie (Windsor) (Con)]

10. How much funding his Department has provided to the UK science base in the last 12 months.

[The Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (Mr Sam Gyimah)]

The principal research funding route is through UK Research and Innovation, which in 2018 alone accounts for over £6 billion of investment in research and innovation. I am proud that the Conservative Government have overseen the largest increase in scientific research and development funding that we have ever seen in the UK. We are investing an additional £7 billion in R&D by 2022, as a first step in delivering our ambition of increasing the UK’s R&D spend to 2.4% of GDP.

[Adam Afriyie]

As a former shadow Science Minister, I am very conscious of the increases in funding, particularly in cash terms, but I am also acutely conscious that it is not just cash but the availability of talent that matters when it comes to science, innovation and the industrial base. Given the recent concerns around Brexit and everything else, will the Minister reassure me that the availability of highly talented scientists will still be a priority for this Government?

[Mr Gyimah]

The increase in funding is actually in real terms, but my hon. Friend is absolutely right: to succeed here, we have to be open to ideas and open to talent. He will have seen the recent relaxation in the tier 5 visa restrictions for scientists. We are also investing £900 million in UKRI’s flagship future leadership fellowships and a further £350 million for the national academies to expand their prestigious fellowships. When it comes to science, innovation and research, we are open for business.

Draft Enterprise Act 2002 (Share Of Supply Test) (Amendment) Order 2018

Adam Afriyie Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd May 2018 General Committees

[Adam Afriyie (Windsor) (Con)]

I thank the Minister for his very articulate presentation of the statutory instruments. They are to be welcomed because they plug a loophole in the short term, until primary legislation can deal with the wider issues. On those wider issues, intellectual property is the danger, as much as the research and commercially viable businesses that may be bought or sold. When we look at the primary legislation, perhaps those are two areas that we can focus on, as well as merely the mergers and acquisitions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Adam Afriyie Excerpts

Tuesday 12th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Ranil Jayawardena (North East Hampshire) (Con)]

4. What steps he is taking to support growth in the UK space sector.

[Adam Afriyie (Windsor) (Con)]

6. What steps he is taking to support growth in the UK space sector.

[The Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation (Joseph Johnson)]

The UK has a world-leading space sector. A quarter of the world’s satellites are either built in the UK or have major components from the UK. At the last European Space Agency ministerial in 2016, the Government agreed €1.4 billion of new funding for space programmes, and we have recently introduced the Space Industry Bill, which will enable UK firms to participate in a sector worth £25 billion.

[Joseph Johnson]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. British expertise has been absolutely fundamental to the development of the Galileo and Copernicus programmes. The “Collaboration on science and innovation” paper we published just last week made it clear that the UK would very much welcome an agreement to continue to collaborate with our European partners on major science, research and technology initiatives. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and I have made it clear that we want our companies and our universities to continue participating in key EU space programmes.

[Adam Afriyie]

The ingenuity, expertise and experience of our UK space sector enables us to punch well above our weight and to collaborate globally in bodies such as CERN, ESA and many others that predate the EU. Does the Minister agree that we should continue fully to support the role that British companies play in both other European space agencies and the EU space programme?

[Joseph Johnson]

My hon. Friend has great expertise in this area, through his association with the parliamentary space committee. I can reassure him, as I did a moment ago, that we are committed to continuing to collaborate closely with European countries to develop our space sector to the benefit of all those in employment in this sector in this country.